Dividend Yield

The dividend yield is the ratio of a company's annual dividend compared to its share price. The dividend yield is represented as a percentage and is calculated as follows:

Depending on the source, the annual dividend used in the calculation could be the total dividends paid during the most recent fiscal year, the total dividend paid over the past four quarters or the most recent dividend multiplied by four.

As an alternative for calculating dividend yield, you can use Investopedia's dividend yield calculator.

The dividend yield is an estimate of the dividend-only return of a stock investment. Assuming the dividend is not raised or lowered, the yield will rise when the price of the stock falls, and it will fall when the price of the stock rises. Because the dividend yield changes with the stock's price, it often looks unusually high for stocks that are falling quickly.

Suppose Company-A's stock is trading at $20 and pays annual dividends of $1 per share to its shareholders. Also, suppose that Company-B's stock is trading at $40 and also pays an annual dividend of $1 per share. This means that Company-A's dividend yield is 5% (1 / 20 = 0.05), while Company-B's dividend yield is only 2.5% (1 / 40 = 0.025). Assuming all other factors are equivalent, an investor looking to use her portfolio to supplement her income would likely prefer Company-A's stock over Company-B's, as it has double the dividend yield.

While high dividend yields are attractive, they may come at the cost of growth potential. Every dollar a company is paying in dividends to its shareholders is a dollar that company is not reinvesting to grow and generate capital gains. Shareholders can earn high returns if the value of their stock increases while they hold it.

Historical evidence suggests that a focus on dividends may amplify returns rather than slow them down. For example, according to analysts at Hartford Funds, since 1960, more than 82% of the total returns from the S&P 500 are from dividends. This is true because it assumes that investors will reinvest their dividends back into the S&P 500, which compounds their ability to earn more dividends in the future.

Imagine an investor buys $10,000 worth of a stock with a $100 share price that is currently paying a dividend yield of 4%. This investor owns 100 shares that all pay a dividend of $4 per share – or $400 total. Assume that the investor uses the $400 in dividends to purchase four more shares at $100 per share. If nothing else changes, the investor will have 104 shares the next year that pay a total of $416 per share, which can be reinvested again into more shares.

In general, mature companies that aren't growing very quickly pay the highest dividend yields. Consumer non-cyclical stocks that market staple items or utilities are examples of entire sectors that pay the highest average yield.

Although the dividend yield among tech stocks is lower than average, the rule about mature companies applies to a sector like that as well. For example, in November 2018, Qualcomm Incorporated (QCOM), an established telecommunications equipment manufacturer, paid a dividend with a yield of 3.75%. Meanwhile, Square, Inc. (SQ), a new mobile payments processor, paid no dividend at all.

The dividend yield may not tell you much about what kind of dividend the company pays. For example, the average dividend yield in the market is highest among real estate investment trusts (REITs) like Public Storage (PSA). However, those are the yields from ordinary dividends, which are a little different than the more common qualified dividends.

Along with REITs, master limited partnerships (MLPs) and business development companies (BDCs) also have very high dividend yields. These companies are all structured in such a way that the U.S. Treasury requires them to pass through most of their income to their shareholders. The pass-through process means the company doesn't have to pay income taxes on profits distributed as a dividend, but the shareholder has to treat the payment as "ordinary" income on his or her taxes. These dividends are not "qualified" for capital gains tax treatment.

The higher tax liability on ordinary dividends lowers the effective yield the investor has earned. However, adjusted for taxes, REITs, MLPs and BDCs still pay dividends with a higher-than-average yield.

Evaluating a stock based on its dividend yield alone is a mistake. Dividend data can be old or based on erroneous information. Many companies have a very high yield as their stock is falling, which usually happens before the dividend is cut.

The dividend yield can be calculated from the last full year's financial report. This is acceptable during the first few months after the company has released its annual report; however, the longer it has been since the annual report, the less relevant that data will be for investors. Alternatively, investors will total the last four quarters of dividends, which captures the trailing 12 months of dividend data. Using a trailing dividend number is good, but it can make the yield too high or too low if the dividend has recently been cut or raised.

Because dividends are paid quarterly, many investors will take the last quarterly dividend, multiply it by four and use the product as the annual dividend for the yield calculation. This approach will reflect any recent changes in the dividend, but not all companies pay an even quarterly dividend. Some firms – especially outside the U.S. – pay a small quarterly dividend with a large annual dividend. If the dividend calculation is performed after the large dividend distribution, it will give an inflated yield. Finally, some companies pay a dividend more frequently than quarterly. A monthly dividend could result in a dividend yield calculation that is too low. When deciding how to calculate the dividend yield, an investor should look at the history of dividend payments to decide which method will give the most accurate results.

Investors should also be careful when evaluating a company that looks distressed with a higher-than-average dividend yield. Because the stock's price is the denominator of the dividend yield equation, a strong downtrend can increase the quotient of the calculation dramatically.

For example, General Electric Company's (GE) manufacturing and energy divisions began underperforming from 2015 through 2018, and the stock's price fell as earnings declined. The dividend yield jumped from 3% to more than 5% as the price dropped. As you can see in the following chart, the decline in the share price and eventual cut to the dividend offset any benefit from a high dividend yield.

The dividend yield is the ratio of the annual dividend compared to the current share price and is expressed as a percentage. Because the dividend itself is changed infrequently, the dividend yield will rise when the share price falls and decline when the share price rises. Some stock sectors, like consumer non-cyclical or utilities, will pay a higher-than-average dividend. Small, newer companies that are still growing quickly pay a lower average dividend than mature companies in the same sectors.

A companies dividends can make a stock look quite attractive and can often be a basis in deciding what stocks you would like to invest your money in. Investing or starting your first portfolio can often be an intimidating process. Choosing a brokerage account can be equally intimidating. Since you can't begin to invest without a broker account, Investopedia has created a list of the best online stock brokers to help get you started.